Here is my problem: im making a gaming ladder. (gaming ladder: a place where online gamers signup and compete, when they lose a match/game they report theyre loss)

The style of this ladder is this: winner of match moves up half the rank of the player/team they beat, if the player/team they beat is less rank than them they do not move up any rank. Losses and wins are recorded.

I have everything done, but i dont know how to store the data so when a user reports that player moves up.

I was totally lost in your rank calculations but anyway, for your needs a flat file will be just enough. -----------example----------- player_nick\trank ----------------------------- You don't need to actually "move" a player up, just increase his rank and then sort numerically...